Jesus Christ. This album is a captivating half-hour. “Suki” is such a deceiving opening track, and when “Yukikosan” started, I realized I was about to be completely blindsided. I was proven right.

This album is like a roller coaster ride that wasn’t designed to be safe. When the ride starts you’re whipping through these frantic guitars as vocalist Mariko Goto is screaming her lungs out. Then one track later, you have a bouncy swing beat with a more melodic ... read more

If you held a gun to my head and asked me to define what genre Messa or their newest record "The Spin" is, I would probably say, "progressive goth-something." You would probably then shoot me for the inadequacy of this answer. Perhaps this sound is nothing unusual to a more experienced music nerd—but to my ears, it sounds like a successful merging of numerous elements from numerous genres.

At turns I hear soaring hard-rock solos, goth-rock effects reminiscent to me of ... read more

I'll be completely transparent with you all right now: I had never heard of blackgaze until incidentally discovering its Wikipedia page. I loved the IDEA of fusing shoegaze with black metal, but I didn't really imagine that it would sound good.

Then I decided to actually give Deafheaven, the (to my knowledge) premier blackgaze band, a fair shake by listening to their newest record. I am DELIGHTED to report that this is not the case, and that "Lonely People with Power" is ... read more

You know, I listened to this album essentially in two chunks at separate times. I finished the album and decided to loop back around to the front half, and honestly... I think I get it now, more than I did the first time through.

"Slaughter of the Soul" is the watershed fourth LP from the Swedish melodic death outfit At the Gates. There's probably not much I can say about it that hasn't already been said. To people living in 1995, this album's sound was a total ... read more

Enjoying this record to any extent, as did much of other "trap metal" (it's not lost on me how white EDM dudes co-opted the label of "trap," but that's a story for another day) like Bring Me the Horizon, took ego death for me. I struggle with it to this day—nagging elitist thoughts of, "this isn't REAL metal"—which is funny, considering how much I can love this sort of metal, and the ranking I gave this record. Reviewing it was a struggle ... read more

"White Pony" is a damn good album. That description alone might be doing it injustice, because frequently Deftones achieves this specific, transcendent sound that I would be hard-pressed to do justice in writing. "Back to School" sets the perfect tone for a raging, whining, melodic record with some of the most emotive, skillful vocals I've ever heard. And that's to say nothing of the waves of overdriven guitars, or the crashing drums that span in sound from subdued ... read more

**EDIT: Oh dear. So Hayden appears to have chosen to be racist in her past, against her own declared morals, to fit in with the culture of the time. And also as of writing has denied any of the evidence supporting her current boyfriend's abuse.

I think it's possible to support art while being critical of the artist themselves. I will keep this review up in the state it was before this whole controversy.**

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[For clarity's sake, I will refer to Hayden Anhedönia as the ... read more

"Mutter" is my full-album introduction to the German metal-electronic outfit Rammstein, and I must say it is a stunning one. I was relatively familiar with the band, I had listened to some of the top songs, and was a little doubtful going in if the album as a whole would stand up. I am VERY happy to report those fears were unfounded. :)

"Mutter" is a marching, grand, and sometimes sublime album that might be able to substitute for preworkout. "Mein Herz brennt" ... read more

This, to me, is the pinnacle of any sort of "danceable" electronic. Probably a little biased since I've been an Underworld fan since my early teens, but... the progression, melodies, flows in this album is top-tier

I think it's politically incorrect for me to have gone in expecting a more "traditional" emo record from something as unique as lobsterfight, but... it's just not my thing :P

I'm at the point in my emo journey where I don't quite appreciate a current-wave emo band like YAAMC, I'm more backlogged with band like Saosin. I find this variety of screamo/bedroom pop very interesting, but a little dissonant by my current tastes. Perhaps one day...

Present day, present TIME! HAHAHAHAHAHA

"YPaA" is a magnificent, gazey introduction to a massively underrated band. Hum is much, MUCH more than their one big hit... but that drumline off "Stars" hits equally as hard regardless of how familiar they are with the band

Whose side are you on?

Loved it when I was 14. Love it more now

Good introduction to Deftones, I'd say. The more ethereal, spacey (I hestitate to use the word "calm," more "melody-oriented") sound on KnY might be better for putting someone onto the band if they're turned away by their "Adrenaline" or "White Pony" sound

I'm thinking of a number between everything and two

You can hear Hum's development over all those long years in the sound, style, and lyrics of "Inlet." It might be my favorite album of theirs

"3D Country" struck me as the sort of album that would REALLY click for people with tastes other than mine. That seems to be the case, looking at other reviews. So... good! :3

Jazz... anything has not really been my thing, but Morphine has transformed it into a format I really enjoyed :)